Prof. Dr. Valentina Serreli and Prof. Dr. Elshifa Elamin on the colonial language rights regime in Sudan
Media records
Abstract
- Abstract
- This latest episode features Prof. Dr. Valentina Serreli talking with Cluster fellow Dr. Elshifa Elamin about her research project in which she scrutinizes the language rights regime in Sudan enforced by the British colonial system.
People & roles
Origins & context
- Title
- Prof. Dr. Valentina Serreli and Prof. Dr. Elshifa Elamin on the colonial language rights regime in Sudan
- Language
- English
- Podcast series
-
Cluster Conversations
- Date
- May 3, 2024
Rights & access
- Extent
- 29 minutes, 20 seconds
Identifiers & sources
Further details
- Episode number
- 20
Full text
- Transcript
-
Speaker 1: Cluster Conversations, a podcast by Africa Multiple.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Um welcome everybody to the latest episode of the Cluster Conversation. My name is Valentina Cirelli. I am professor of Arabic studies at the University of Bayreuth and I am a member of the cluster Africa Multiple. Um here today to introduce our fellow professor Elshifa Elamin uh for whom I'm honored also to serve as academic host uh here in Bayreuth. Prof Elamin is an assistant professor at the Ahlia University in Omdurman in Sudan where she's also currently the director of the department of English Language and Literature. As you know uh since April two thousand twenty three, so one year ago, in Sudan there is an ongoing war between the armed forces and the rebel forces which are known as Janjaweed. As the war goes on and many civilians have lost their homes and were forced to flee the country, um in this unfortunate context, Prof Elamin obtained a fellowship from the cluster within the program of for displaced scholars and she's now uh here working on a project on the coloniality of language um in Sudan. So I'm happy now to give her the floor and I would simply ask her to start by presenting us her project and maybe telling us more about the concept of the coloniality of language and how this applies to the Sudanese context.
Speaker 3: Thank you very much Prof Valentina Cirelli for having me today. I'm so grateful to the Cluster Conversation Podcast team for providing me this invaluable opportunity to address you today and share my research experience. Before start cooperating with this question let me extend my gratitude to the University of Bayreuth, the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, the dean of the cluster, the research committee and the research section members for the fellowship. I also want to say thank you very much especially to you, my academic host Professor Valentina Cirelli for unwavering support and collaboration in helping me achieving my research goals. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: You're welcome. I'm honoured to have you here.
Speaker 3: Yes. According to your question about definition of the coloniality of language, let me start saying thank you again for this interesting question. Uh the coloniality of language refers here first of all to the marginalization of Sudanese indigenous languages in favor of Arabic language. This is the first definition of what did I mean by coloniality of language. In my research on the colonial legacy of language policies in Sudan, as you know that Sudan is very complicated country. It has very social linguistic contexts differ from other countries in Africa. So this led me to explore the marginalization of indigenous Sudanese languages. To do this, I display the linguistic landscape of Sudan as a linguistically diverse and characterized by linguistic density and diversity. In Sudan, as you know that Sudan is very large country in east uh north of Africa having well over than hundred indigenous languages belong to three out of the four language families of Africa. And this is census about languages just presented by Greenberg many years ago but let me say here to remind the lack of recent census in Sudan as a result of the complexity of the political situation in Sudan nowadays. Thirdly, despite of the huge numbers of these languages, no consideration, no attention paid to these languages in uh Sudanese educational policies which continue to favour and promote the same language since the colonial time extended between one hundred sorry eighteen ninety eight to one hundred fifty six. According to what I said I'd mention about the coloniality of language and according to this special linguistic landscape paradigm, I talk about coloniality of language in relation to marginalization and domination. My definition of coloniality evoke here in particular two dichotomies, marginalization vis-a-vis domination. Okay. And
Speaker 1: inferiority vis-a-vis superiority which presented by Vornoli and Bleig. The colonial regime and post-colonial government imposed Arabic as an official language promoting it to use in formal settings education and institution media and as the means of daily life communication or what we call it lingua franca while English is the colonial language was used as a second language since till nineteen eighty nine and then it is shifted tranquilly to be a foreign language later. Secondly, coloniality of language means I utilize the concept of coloniality of language in relation to racialization of language. That is implication of the British regime policies that resulted in racialization language through creation of racial linguistic geographical and religious boundaries between South Sudan and North Sudan. What is new with my research here, I connected colonial language policies or the colonial legacy with the current sociopolitical discourse and political conflicts as represented by Juba peace agreement that I analyzed I am going to talk about it later. Finally, coloniality of language which I referred to in my research intertwines with the symbolic function of language it intertwines with the symbolic function of the language or the power of language which means that language has a fundamental role on culture. This is a fact. Language influence or impact culture and ideology beside identity construction and this is a complex relation with social categories and positionality like gender intersections by class all these concepts I try to make or to conceptualize through rationale depend on Cojoano two thousand has theorized the coloniality of power accompanied by additional rationale provided by historical and sociolinguistic studies of many scholars from Sudan and outside of Sudan like Abdul Hai Miller Abomanga Horace and so many Benne Cook.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Thank you thank you Alshifa for this first introduction of your project and concept of coloniality of language. I would like now to make maybe a step back to just keep everybody in the picture. Your work revolves around the claim that language policies in post-colonial Sudan which means up to nowadays before and after the separation of former Sudan into different countries in twenty eleven. So your claim is that the language policies since have been reminiscent of colonial policies they are still colonial in a way. So maybe it's useful for us if you refresh our minds like how these actual policies have been since the colonial times and up to nowadays which is the period in which you focus more.
Speaker 1: Thank you very interesting question. According to my research investigation my aim is to provide an insight new insight how my research established historical and sociolinguistic connection between the colonial and post-colonial agreement in terms of language policies. This is the main concern of my research. So the language policy in Sudan if I want to make a brief survey or overview about the nature of the language policy in Sudan had been a source of contention over the past few years. While some support Arabic till now as the language of choice other oppose this policies that employ or employ Arabic as official and language to be used in educational settings and everywhere in media and as a means of communication. So historically I use the historical background to say that the British regime utilized mechanism including organization of colonial language conferences such as the Rejif language conference which held in eighteen nineteen twenty eight and and the closed district order which excluded Arabic and Islam from the south. For me for my research it is worth noting that the British associated Arabic and Islam with North Sudan.
Speaker 1: projecting it as a Muslim Arab and the South, the South associated with English and Christianity with projecting it as Christian and English or African, African country or African part or region. After the independent in after independence of Sudan in nineteen fifty six, the Addis Ababa agreement of nineteen twenty seven designated Arabic as an official language of Sudan while English still was chosen as the primary language in southern region. The agreement also allows the use of indigenous languages in certain exclusive domains of Sudan region including their promotion and use as a medium of instruction. And this is I think limited use for these languages. No space, no attention paid still for the indigenous language to be used as officially as a medium of instruction and education system. From two let me also shift and survey the language policies from two thousand five to two thousand eleven, a new language policy was implemented after the Naivasha agreement conference. And the language policies at this time pursued by post-colonial regime continue to promote colonial monolingual ideology. Still Arabic language is the first language of the country, the sole official language and Islam as the official religion as seen in previous policies. Nothing is new. English also continued to be official language in South Sudan, the medium of instruction and language of outside communication with other countries. And this is what Naivasha said about language policies. Unfortunately, if I want to say something or the demerits or limitation of this policy, unfortunately all this policy have been failed to offer solution or provide just poor implementation and lack of consideration for the country's sociopolitical because Sudan is social, political and economical complex country. As a reality, we need another solution. We need in fact the policy were primarily just designated for negotiation purposes to end the war between south and the north of Sudan. As a result, unfortunately by the end all the agreements had many idealistic aspirations that did not align with the country practical needs. By the end, Sudan, South Sudan separated from the North and it became one country and as Sudanese always says that it is an independence, it is not a separation for the South Sudan people. The last step was the Juba peace agreement and this is my main concentration in my research that signed in twenty twenty. The agreement was assigned in Juba, the capital of South Sudan between Sudanese government and five rebel groups. The nature of the agreement designed to include more than one tracks. Each track treated different kind of problems in Sudan in general and particular for the certain regions. We have the eastern track, western track and we have central and northern part track and east track. All these tracks exist separately and deal with unique issues. Some protocols are regarded as national and common to all tracks. What concerned me in this regard about Juba peace agreement that the track-based approaches to addressing sociopolitical problem in Sudan means that language provisions are scattered. This is what is important point what I am going to talk about here because the language policies is scattered across tracks, specific protocol and federal level tracks. The power sharing protocol in Juba peace agreement for instance emphasizes the need to develop and promote local language and culture.
Speaker 1: Very interesting. Meanwhile, the national issues protocol mandated that all Sudanese languages be considered national languages. And it is very good insight here. That should be equally respected, developed and celebrated. This is one part, I think it is very interesting, presented in Juba peace agreement about Sudanese languages as has the same reiterated like other agreements for the analysis when we come to show the results of this research. The North track also section include provisions promoting Nubian language, that language is spoken in the north part of Sudan and other Nubian mountains more than forty four tribes speaking. Lastly, I can say that the Western track section contains similar statement that highlights the need to respect linguistic diversity and condemn any form of discrimination based on gender, class, ethnicity, religion affiliation. And so thank you so much.
Speaker 2: So these are surely very, very good principles and very, very good words uh to be written on the agreement. But I think um you can say something more about how and to what extent this was implemented or there was like a real wish and will to implement it even if not concrete steps yet, but at least a concrete will to make these good wishes and good words become reality. Right? So what is what are the real um I would say consequences of the Juba peace agreement? Was it somehow applied?
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you for this question because I think that when we come to deliver deeply on in Juba peace agreement, we have primarily focus, return back or trace back my primary focus of my research to investigate the marginalization of indigenous language and provide a decolonial perspective. And my aim here is just concentration in studying the language rights outlined in Juba peace agreement signed in twenty twenty. The principle one point twenty five that frames the Sudanese language right with knowledge and development. The right of Sudanese languages under the knowledge or the economic or development principle. Uh if we take a look to this principle, it reiterate or restated the significance of Sudanese indigenous language as it mentioned in the previous peace agreements in Sudan. As the principle states that all Sudanese language shall be considered national languages that should be equally respected, developed and celebrated. And this is what I investigated and explored how Juba peace agreement framed the Sudanese language within education and development and how it intertwines the coloniality language in terms of the marginalization, with the social issues. There is a connection between marginalization of language with the social and economical issue. What is implied here is that Juba peace agreement does not include straightforward endeavor to show how, when and where. There is no any answer for this, how, when and where indigenous language to be included in the educational and language policies. However, the analysis also shows that Juba peace agreement primarily focused on economic development and its educational policy neglected the promotion of cultural diversity. The concept of high culture, coloniality as we mentioned before concentrate or defines high culture, low culture. It is a dark side of colonialism world perspective thinking about indigenous language as low cultures and the Arabic is high culture, purity and inferiority of language and it is along, it is a white perspective about this and I think Juba peace agreement also failed to put it. And this led me to say that by the end, Juba peace agreement does not provide any practical solution to determine why and when, as I said, the promotion of indigenous cultures and language occurs. No explanation of this question at all. In fact, I could say that the Juba peace agreement contain principle in different tracks that requires more analysis.
Speaker 1: We need to analyze deeply in another studies. This is critical insight about the demerit of or specific limitation of the agreement according to present linguistic injustice. And this concept is a part of solution presented in Juba peace agreement principle which fundamentally a matter of failure to address a small portion of language policies issues. Very small portion, complex language solution and this complexity is particularly noticeable in the context of indigenous language where development promotion celebration should be linked to the autonomizing the fundamental reason beyond exclusion of such languages.
Speaker 2: So it seems that a lot of provisions remain on paper.
Speaker 1: There is a lot of research about this but it is a time, it is a matter of time we have to to be brief.
Speaker 2: It seems that a lot of provisions just remain on paper. So this research is really fascinating and also very, very timely. May I ask you something a little bit personal? How did you arrive to this topic?
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you, thank you. This topic I think it is not an easy topic to be investigated during a very short period of time because I think it is scattered here and there. There is a lot of aspect to be targeted and to be investigated yet. I am thinking about doing that in the coming phase of my research. But I think I am interested in this topic of language policy in Sudan after I joined Sudanese Linguistic Platform. It is a gather of experts and scholars from different parts of Sudan and outside of Sudan discussing new theories about Sudanese colonial state and how can we participate in dismantling the construction of this state. Our discussion in over than hundred webinars cover identity issues, racialization, gender problems, diversity management, linguistic diversity, marginalization on all these issue or the colonial legacy problems. And through this discussion I have learned how to bring or how to deal with the new theories, colonial and decoloniality perspective to think about how to apply these theories inside my classroom as a teacher and how to fill up to bridge the gap between the theory and practice. To learn how to think out of the box and how to free yourself from the control of the monolingual ideologies that we put it in during a long time of al-Bashir or Islamic regime in Sudan. We have to think just inside the box. How to bring all these theories of colonization and how to think about to do something for to enrich the discussion about the real problem of our country. I learn a lot. So that when I come to my classroom as a university teacher, I face challenges in my classroom because the classroom environment compromising mostly from non-Arab students from Darfur state who struggle a lot to learn Arabic language. So I conducted or I conversed with them numerous times with my students how to realize that by the end there is a connection between standardization in higher education institution and Arab identity, put them under significant pressure regarding their race, culture and language. Therefore I decide to contribute to research dismantling the dominating of monolingual policy of Arabization which is not conducive to promoting diversity and inclusivity within higher education institutions. I should be recognized and to participate together with my students by producing research and participating intellectually in decolonial vision of change as teachers and to...
Speaker 1: Enlighten my students to think out out of the classroom wall and to think about how they can address their personal issues in education and learning and how they can identify and recognize their identity as they are Sudanese Arab or African and this is very big question.
Speaker 2: It is. Thanks for mentioning this and actually this very topic of the students that study in Khartoum but come from Darfur state is is a topic that is very dear to El Shifa and this is the purpose why we've met and the purpose that brought her here for first time to contribute to a conference. So thank you for bringing this and with an eye to the time I would like to ask you a very last question that connects to this and this is about your like the continuation of your research. You kind of mentioned it that now you would like to go on on the coloniality of language but with a narrow focus on higher education. So maybe you could just briefly tell us what uh where this would take you.
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you again. My plan in my coming research to conduct research following another methodological approach proposed by Mengeloo and Skoba that approaching through institutional practice knowledge regime and decolonial options. My focus will be on the impact of monolingual ideology that influence or affect the efficiency of knowledge production among university teacher and their research teaching translation activities and another area I would I plan to investigate how language policies contribute to nation building drawing rationale upon the work of Makoni, Savero and Abdul Hai. With this aim I will continue working on examining Juba peace agreement, specialized education and development principle which include important provisions related to language policy in education setting, the principle one point two seven which states that transparency and free access to information shall be guaranteed for all citizens on equal footing in accordance with constitution and as regulated by law. And this is what I am going to do in my coming research plan. Thank you.
Speaker 2: And this is what we're looking forward to, I mean, to read or to listen from your voice in after the upcoming months. So thank you very much again El Shifa Professor El Amin for sharing with us your research findings and thanks to the listeners for tuning in.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much to you professor Rely and it is my pleasure. Thank you. Thank you.
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